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Andrew_Inner_North
Inspiring
August 30, 2023
Answered

Placed .svg file doesn't print from exported PDF when output from Bluebeam Revu

  • August 30, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 4388 views

I thought that I had reached the Nirvana of having a vector logo set that I could use in InDesign and Word/PowerPoint alike, but alas.

 

I did a very simple layout in InDesign which had a shape with some text and our company logo on it (which was an SVG file). It exports fine to PDF. It looks fine in Acrobat. It prints fine from Acrobat. It looks fine in Bluebeam Revu. But when printed from Bluebeam Revu, the logo goes missing. I swapped the logo out to an .ai version and exported again, and then it printed fine from Bluebeam.

 

Now you may say "Well print from Acrobat, silly!" however I'd say the bulk of our engineers have Bluebeam as their default PDF viewer and this should not be happening! 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Brad @ Roaring Mouse

    It's important to remember, any .svg vector objects are converted to Postscript/PDF objects on export to PDF; it is no longer in any way shape or form an .svg in the PDF. Even if you were to upload a "bad" PDF for us to look at, we probably won't find anything, but the fact it appears properly and prints from everything you've tried except for Revu points to an issue there. Based on a quick search, I found many reports of printing problems with PDF content from Revu, so my guess you need to send them sample files to analyze.

    That being said, I'd still love to poke at one of your "bad" PDFs.

    3 replies

    Brad @ Roaring Mouse
    Community Expert
    Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    August 31, 2023

    It's important to remember, any .svg vector objects are converted to Postscript/PDF objects on export to PDF; it is no longer in any way shape or form an .svg in the PDF. Even if you were to upload a "bad" PDF for us to look at, we probably won't find anything, but the fact it appears properly and prints from everything you've tried except for Revu points to an issue there. Based on a quick search, I found many reports of printing problems with PDF content from Revu, so my guess you need to send them sample files to analyze.

    That being said, I'd still love to poke at one of your "bad" PDFs.

    A
    Andrew_Inner_NorthAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 31, 2023

    I'm overly cautious so here's a doctored version of the logo, but I've confirmed with a Bluebeam user that a PDF generated from InDesign using this prints out blank. I placed this, the unmodified SVG and an AI version and only the AI showed up on the printout. I'm going to see if I can raise a support ticket with Bluebeam as it does appear to be a "them" problem.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    August 31, 2023

    I wouldn't hold your breath. Just as most of the general third-party PDF readers focus on "speed, speed, free/cheap, speed and bygodnotAdobe," BB seems to focus on managing very large pages, both in file size and dimension, and has so many rendering problems with more ordinary — albeit more "complex" — PDFs that I think they will continue to focus on their market at the expense of general users.

     

    Power to 'em and all. I just get irritated when users of a substandard reader blame the format or Adobe for their problems. 🙂

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 31, 2023

    Well, I will only point out that when you export a PDF from InDesign, you are creating an Adobe PDF. Beyond Acrobat or Reader you are, unfortunately, in unsupported territory. Third-party PDF readers are notoriously bad.

     

    This sounds like a Bluebeam issue but it most certainly is NOT an InDesign issue.

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      August 31, 2023

      This. I often work in engineering environments, and while BlueBeam is beloved in the Revit, ACAD and SolidWorks crowd, it's a lot better at handling large export docs than, well, most page docs.

       

      Cross that with the many ragged edges of SVG, and, well...

        E
        Community Expert
        Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        August 31, 2023

        SVG is RGB only it doens't allow any CMYK tagging. 

        Any 100% Black that you assign is converted to RGB black - that is 4 colour black. 

         

        There's no reason for it to go missing unless that Bluebeam does not support RGB or something.

         

         

         

        A
        Andrew_Inner_NorthAuthor
        Inspiring
        August 31, 2023

        You're right, no reason for it to go missing! Nearly everything I do is destined to be printed on an office printer, exported to a png to be put into Word or PowerPoint or submitted as a PDF for on-screen viewing or for someone to output on an office printer at the other end, so the lack of CMYK isn't much of an issue for me, and RBG format everything has become the norm for my workflows.

         

        I've had things in the past like whites being set to overprint, but that shows up when you look at overprint preview in Acrobat. This looks fine.

         

        E
        Community Expert
        Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        August 31, 2023

        Can you share the SVG with us? 

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